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Building a Content Hub for Your Business

Barney Durrant •
Barney runs a digital marketing consultancy and writes about technology, startups, music, movies and business, as well as his hometown in the UK.

How do you get the word out about your business? There are so many ways to reach out to your customers in the online world, it can be hard to know where to start. Many businesses are realizing that creating interesting content that their customers want to read and share is the perfect way to keep in touch.

We live in a fast-moving world, where people are often talking about your brand on social media. Writing social updates, blogs or features brings your business to life. It can also make sure you are answering common customer questions or problems and letting everyone know the latest about your products and services.

Let's take a look at the best ways to create a content hub for your website.

Where to Start

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You may have hundreds of ideas or be struggling for inspiration, especially if you are planning to write regularly. Your first source of ideas should always be your core business. Think about new product lines, the history of your business or what your work stands for—customers love to see behind the scenes. You can write about your own personal journey, company principles and beliefs or share stories from colleagues who are vital to the business. Everyone will have something to say about what they do.

Traveller Chris is a one-man content factory with blog posts, photos and social media posts.

Once you have looked inward at the business, then look outside to research what topics your customers might want to read about. Hopefully, you have a clear idea of the audience for your company and products. One approach is to go beyond your product line. Think about other subjects that are related to what you do that would be interesting to your customers. If you make baby clothes, then it would be great to write tips for first time parents or the top 10 things to look for when choosing a stroller or crib. There are a whole group of topics that are related to your business—a brainstorming session can help to bring these out by thinking like a customer.

What Interests Your Customers

Another way to research is to look online. Use social media messages and comments, any information or tools you have that tell you what people are searching for in your category, plus any direct feedback like customer service emails or calls. All of these communications from your customers will help to form a picture of what they want to know about and any issues they are having. In turn, this can inspire your content. Not only will this mean you are writing something interesting to your customers, but you could also be saving valuable customer service time by addressing a problem that many people are having and offering pro-active solutions. The content hub or section on your Website can in part be about helping customers.

Lima te Llena use a blog to hi-light their colorful Peruvian food tours and customer reviews.

Solving problems and writing about common issues can be very powerful. If this type of article is well-optimized with the right keywords, titling and style, it could bring quality traffic back to your Website and ultimately drive sales of your products.

Make sure your bring your blog posts to life with photos and even video. A minimum of 300 words is best for search engine optimization (SEO) and be sure to include links out to other parts of your Website or other sites, so the post is as useful as possible. An easy to read style without jargon is best. Don't go beyond a 1000 words, as short and sweet is better. Big topics can be broken down into multiple posts.

Make it Engaging

Encourage people to comment and respond to your content and share it as widely as possible on your social media accounts. If you write great articles, you may be approached by other companies or online publications who want to include your work on their sites—this can be great for SEO also, but be sure they link back to your company.

Create a Calendar

Planning is vital, so be realistic about how much time it takes to write content—a weekly blog can be very challenging to keep going. Line up a number of posts ahead of time and plan out a schedule of topics too. Creating a calendar of events, holidays and dates important to your business can help you keep up to date and reflect what is going on in the outside world. Productivity tools like Trello can help you organize content and stay on track.

Creating a great content hub will help build your company identity and reach your customers by solving their problems and covering their interests . It can keep you looking fresh, responsive and a leader in your industry category. Adding photos and video will always make you stand out more on social media. Plan ahead and have fun!